Perhaps the closest thing
West Jordan has to a bonafide celebrity—toymaker Alton Thacker—served as grand
marshal at the city’s annual children’s parade to kick off its Fourth of July
celebration. And he accepted the honorary duty just a couple of weeks after he
and his mostly-senior citizen volunteer toymakers—with Tiny Tim’s Foundation
for Kids—reached a monumental milestone.

“On June 14 we built our
one-millionth toy car,” Thacker said, just before leading the parade out. “And
this year we are on pace to build more than any previous year. We’ll go over
100,000 cars.”

Grand Marshal Alton Thacker pulled several kids in oversized replicas of his toy cars to lead the West Jordan Children’s Parade. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

If he had sold the cars for
just a dollar a piece, which would be a tremendous bargain, Thacker’s small, four-wheeled
creations would have earned his shop $1 million since he began in 2002. But the
82-year-old has never sold a one, choosing instead to give them all away.

It’s not a great business
model, but Thacker doesn’t operate a business. He trades in the smiles kids give
him—from across the globe—after receiving one of his toy cars.

“We are so excited to have
Alton as our (children’s parade) grand marshal,” West Jordan Mayor Jim Riding
said. “This parade is all about kids, and so is he. We are proud Alton runs his
toy making shop here in West Jordan. He brings a lot of joy to a lot of
people.”

As he neared the end of what
would be a 47-year career as a barber, Thacker began making toy cars at his
Sandy home in 2002. He soon outgrew that space, and also a West Jordan garage
that was donated for his team to work in, by former West Jordan Mayor and
Councilman Dave Newton.

In 2010, Tiny Tim’s
Foundation for Kids took up residency at its current, rented location (1423
West 8120 South). But paying the rent proved to be a challenge—at least until
the media finally caught up to what he was doing.

“Over the years, we have
received positive coverage from local media, which helped generate some
donations to help pay the rent,” Thacker said. “But when Mike Rowe’s show came
out, that was a real game changer.”

Four months ago in
these pages, we told you about Alton’s internet program debut on host Mike
Rowe’s show “Returning the Favor.” The program highlights volunteers such as Thacker—from
across the country—which serve their communities through volunteerism. After
spotlighting Alton’s foundation, show producers also donated a four-wheeler for
Thacker to use when pulling kids in parades. But Alton says that was not the
best thing “Returning the Favor” did.

“The publicity from that show
has been incredible,” he said. “It has helped us generate more donations to pay
our rent and other bills. And it has also motivated other people—from around
the world—to reach out to me, saying they now want to set up volunteer toy
making shops like ours.”

In just the few months since Thacker
became a Facebook star, he said he has been approached by people in Maine,
Costa Rica and even Malawi, Africa, seeking “How can we do it too?”
information.

So does that mean franchising
opportunities for Tiny Tim’s Foundation for Kids? Maybe there’s still a million
dollars to be made. But Thacker’s wife Cheryl jumps in to answer that question,
before he can even draw a breath.

“We don’t want all that extra
work,” she said. “I know Alton is just excited to see these other people
consider opening more toy making shops, because the kids will benefit.”

After speaking briefly to the
West Jordan children’s parade gathering, The Thackers jumped into their parade
float and began pulling kids, including a couple of great-grandchildren.

Foundation toy shop
volunteers constructed 85,000 of the wooden cars in 2016, 98,000 last year.
They are on pace to build more than 100,000 this year. Many of the toys are
painted by a prison inmate work group in Gunnison, along with Boy Scouts and
other volunteers.

The toys are then distributed
to area hospitals, service organizations and many other groups that serve children
and measure success one smile at a time.

“We are so proud of him,” Thacker’s
granddaughter Erica Fish said, as she was securing two of her kids in one of
the cars to be pulled in the parade by their great-grandpa. “He found a great
cause and is so devoted to it.”